run baby, RUN!

or rather, "jog baby, jog!"

Throughout the fall and even into early winter I was quite satisfied with my health. I was by no means working out at any kind of mentionable rate, but I did for about a month go 3 times a week with a friend. We kind fizzled and I pretty much got cocky with the fact that I had lost about 12 pounds and just wanted to "relax"

"relaxing" is pretty much equivalent to putting a welcome sign on my hips and stomach and saying "vacancy" HAHAHA! Because dontcha know, that's pretty much what happened.

+15 pounds later, I had fun, but seriously, is it worth not being able to actually fit comfortably into anything i own? Almost 2 years ago, I weighed 5 pounds more than I do right now, my MAX weight. I will never ever allow myself to go past there. I just can't ever do it. I lost 23 pounds(ish) and got rid of my fat clothes... all my clothes fit me for 15 pounds ago. So squeezing into them right now is not a pretty sight.

UGH

Since I am a very analytical person, I think a lot. I am also a multi-tasker. So while I am sitting, I can never just do nothing. I usually am sitting and: watching tv, working on lappy, sleeping, eating, talking to someone.

All activities that lead to inevitable weight gain. But among all this sitting and other multi-tasky things, I think to myself that during the summer, it's easier for me to lose weight, because I WANT to be doing things, and the sun feels good, so i LIKE to be outside.

I am all about mind over matter. If you don't mind, then it doesn't matter. And also, if I set my mind to doing something, then it won't matter that other things are in the way, I'll figure out how to do it.

So, I decided that I need to get the heck in shape. Not only because i most certainly won't fit into the wedding dress when it comes in, but because I am just uncomfortable at this weight.

I need goals, and things to attain, so the dress is certainly incentive, but I want to continue past that point. So I am continually thinking of where I will go next after I reach one goal etc.

I HATE, and I do mean LOAAATHEE going to the gym. Why? Because you have to plan it out every stinking time you go, and if you are planning on working out for say 30 minutes, that 30 mins quickly becomes an hour or more with drive time, prep time etc. SOOOO annoying!

Therefore, I have hit the pavement. I've never been one to sweat, or get my heart rate really goin, because I didn't see the purpose, ultimate goal, or any kind of benefit. But with a goal in mind, I started jogging and jog I will.

I did some research before beginning because I wanted to set myself up to keep going and not just quit after 2 days, like I normally do. I settled on starting out with equal parts walking/jogging. And those equal parts would amount to 15 seconds. Go ahead, laugh at me! Cuz I sure did! But that's what I could do!

Day one: 15 on 15 off... so far so good, but I felt good after 10 minutes so i upped it to 30 on 30 off.

Day two: 30 on 30 off pretty much the whole time.

By Thursday (day 4) I had worked up to doing 2 solid 15 minute miles!

And today (day 7) I got down to 2 miles in just under 28 minutes.

I feel so good with goals in mind and totally believe I can keep doing this.



I will definitely be keeping this up and I am so excited to see how it will help me. I've never worked out to lose weight before. I've always lost weight by just eating better. Which is definitely great, but I'm really excited to see what the combo does.

My shorter term goal, even before the dress is to participate in this 5K. Since I'm already getting used to doing a little more than 2 miles, 3.1 miles isn't too big of a step up. It's April 4th and benefits those who suffer with non-smokers lung cancer.

PS I do not look like the girl in the picture when I'm running LOL!

o'dark hundred

You're familiar with military time right?

I learned it well when I worked at adt and still remember now. I actually got so I didn't need to do the conversion anymore, I just knew what each hour was.

It makes a lot of sense really. Then you don't have to worry about the silly am and pm business.

But regardless. That's not the point i'm making here.

the point is the hour of day (or night) that I have been getting up lately.

O'DARK HUNDRED

it's the very official name for what most people refer to as 5:30am.

Some people may think that this is normal and good. I, however, do not.

Why have i been getting up this early you ask?

Because my friends, I have this thing called "weight" that needs to go!

Since the end of spring i've been doing fairly well with eating much healthier (with the exception of the many girl scout cookies I ate today) and have been doing so with the intent of actually BEING healthier. I have found though, that one of the side effects of eating more healthy is WEIGHT LOSS!

OMGosh, who would have thought?

So I get up with my friend Traci 3 or 4 days a week and we sweat our butts off together trying to do things that noone should be allowed to do. ever. especially at that hour.

But it's good. Getting up early, starting the day off that way, makes me feel better. However, I have become serverly lax in my eating habits as a result of this...

the reasoning: "I'm doing this very good thing for my body, I can relax in this area."

the reality: "I'm getting up early and going to bed late... and because i'm eating crap i'm more tired than EVER! AND i'm sore!"

Moral of the story: eat well, exercise early and all is well with amanda